Maeve Binchy RIP

I was so sad this morning to read that Maeve Binchy died yesterday.  She was aged 72 and died after a short illness.  Listening to the radio here in Ireland this morning, tributes are pouring into her and what is most being remarked on, apart from her books themselves, is her warmth and kindness.

To anyone who has loved her books, this will make complete sense. It is clear on every page that Maeve Binchy loves people: their simple lives, their friendships, their mistakes, their huge ability to deceive themselves. There are no real out and out villains in her work - just flawed humans.

I was about ten when I first stared reading her books - I am pretty sure Echoes was my first read.  I LOVE that book - it is just so set in its time and there is a sweeping story with a perfect Binchy balance of details of Irish life in the 50s: the slightly mad way catholicism is interpreted and used in daily life, village life, student life, family life. This balance is maintained in most of her books, particularly those set in the 50s.

I felt some of her more modern books weren't quite as strong.  The great characters were still there, but some of the elements of modern life were poorly explained or unlikely to have occurred as described; for example how Marcella expects to get into modelling in Scarlett Feather is just odd and made little sense. And Ria's first attempts to use the internet in Tara Road are just bizarre and I don't quite know how an editor let them through.
Her most recent book Minding Frankie was very good, considering the above and didn't jar so much, despite being set in Dublin today.

It was clear, however, that Maeve was at her most confident and fluent when looking back to the 50s. My FAVOURITE of all her books has to be The Glass Lake. Set in the 50s in rural Ireland and London, it has one of the best plots in terms of secrets and mysteries. And I LOVE the character of Kit: a strong young woman, facing huge choices.  I remember I bought this for my Mum's birthday and gave it to her when she came to stay with me in my first year halls at Warwick University.  I then convinced her to let me read it that weekend as I wouldn't get the chance till Christmas otherwise.  I can't believe she let me - what a brat!

Sometimes people can be a bit sniffy about Maeve Binchy books, as fluffy and lacking any literary credibility. Her books have stood the test of time however and today's responses on the radio and on Facebook show how loved her work was and by how many different people. Some highbrow authors would be lucky to have anything close to that kind of response.

I will keep reading her books! And I will think of her often especially as I drive past Hunter's Hotel, just down the road from me. Maeve Binchy wrote about Holly's Hotel in many of her books - and she was referring to Hunter's.  One day I was there for lunch with my family and she came in.  Quite a large woman in a voluminous dress, clearly a regular.  It was quite a buzz to see her! I hope she didn't suffer in her illness.  Her husband Gordon Snell had every single one of her books dedicated to him and must be feeling very lost at the moment - bless him.

RIP Maeve Binchy - and thank you.

Olympic Fever

Haven't posted for a few days. I said I would blog about things as they come on the radio or appear as topics of conversation.  There has really only been 1 topic in the last week: London 2012! It has been so exciting to be so close to the action - and I say that from a country away!  But the buzz has been tangible, even over here.  

It's a bit weird that people like me, who aren't really that sports mad, get so caught up in the Olympics. I like the statistical side of it, if that's the best way to put it: the flags, the countries, the medal table, the world records. The actual sport: only some of it!  Who doesn't like the athletics?

Matthew has always loved sports - since he was 2 he could name all the F1 drivers and sit through a whole race.  He loves golf, football, rugby.... he will pretty much watch anything! But what is exciting is that he is not just slumped in front of the tv, but leaning forward, avidly taking in all the rules, players names, the atmosphere... It has been great to see this passion growing in him and the Olympics has come at the perfect time for this bright and interested 5 year old! (ok, bit of parental bias showing there!) It has been brilliant to see him process it all and have him come tearing into the kitchen to tell me the score between Uruguay and the UAE!  We have a big poster with flags in the kitchen which has been consulted earnestly as unknown countries take part in random sports.And, best of all, it is inspiring both of them to activity. The final whistle from  a hockey match had barely gone yesterday when Matthew tore out to the shed to get his golf club and a ball.  It was the closest he could find to a hockey stick and he looped all over the garden in his best hockey imitation.

Both boys are really excited about the whole thing! So much so that I thought the punishment of  not being allowed to watch any Olympics on Saturday was sufficient deterrent for Adam to sort out his behaviour on Friday. Sadly, no... as he was just having a rotten day.  So that was tricky and made Saturday a bit painful!  But it did give him the message that the Olympics is special and exciting!

The picture above shows that we have really entered into the spirit of things! We are all learning loads and I am enjoying watching the Olympics through their eyes even more than I ever enjoyed it for myself!

The Olympic slogan for 2012 is: Inspire a generation. Seb Coe, my boys are inspired - thank you!

Dilemma: neighbour vs parent

There's a boy in the neighbourhood who often calls to ask if my boys want to come out to play.  He is 4 years older than my oldest and from a family where there seem to be a lot less boundaries and rules.  In general, I am not that keen for my guys to play with him.  Because they are so much younger, they are led by him and will behave in ways I am not happy with, without really knowing any better.  This is, so far, nothing serious, I hasten to add.  Once I caught them hiding in someone's front garden, which I have told them not to.  And I know they become a bit more careless about running across the road.  Previously, I have caught him out in lies, he eats all ind of junk food at random times it seems and I know that his language is not what I am ready to hear from my two yet.

So, it seems like a no brainer to say 'stay away from this boy' to Matthew and Adam.

But then it occurred to me that there is another side to this. This boy is often wandering around on his own, clearly not very supervised and rarely taken anywhere.  Admittedly I don't know that as a concrete fact, but I have never seen him in the local playground or really anywhere except hanging around.  Would he benefit from time spent in our house? So far I have resisted inviting him in... 

My responsibility is to my boys of course, but I am also going to be living in the same road as this boy when he is a teenager and a young adult. It strikes me as prudent to remain on good terms with him, even if I don't really have much of an influence at all on him. But is this being kind of irresponsible towards my boys? 

What's the best thing to do? What's the right thing to do?

Time Spent

This morning Matthew was pestering me to play Connect 4 with him.

I had laundry to fold, the kitchen was a bit of a mess, I haven't been feeling all that well and I had to pack a bag to take with us for a day in Dublin.

So, I took a deep breath.  And said yes. 

I have been trying to prioritise just spending time with the boys when they ask me to play with them. I guess it's about being intentional in how I choose to be with them.  Of course there are times when I simply can't drop everything and play, but there are definitely many times when I can and have in the past chosen not to. But realistically, when Matthew remembers his childhood, will he look back fondly on his clean clothes and how the kitchen was always tidy?  Unlikely.  This is not what childhood memories are made of!  I think he might remember this morning though.  I was a tiny bit bored at times; Connect 4 is not especially thrilling.  But I am pleased we played it.

The trick is to catch this thought process the next time one of them asks me for time when I am feeling that other things are important and balancing all that I have to do.

I wonder how far I will take this? I'll be interested to see Andrew's face the first time he comes home from work when absolutely no dinner has been planned, bought or cooked and the house is a tip.But hey, the boys will have a memory of a great day, so that's good enough., right?  We'll see!

The 'I'm Bored' Jar

Today I got my 2 boys excited about sorting out their socks...  Yes, really. This was because the order to do so came out of the 'I'm Bored' Jar. This, as everyone knows, makes it non-negotiable...  If you take the risk of saying 'I'm Bored', you have to do whatever comes out of the jar...

I am lucky dipping right now and here are some examples of tasks or activities set by The Jar:

• put on a load of washing
• make a road and train track
• clean the toilet and sink n your bathroom
• line up all your cars in order of colour
• make a fort
• draw 10 flags and colour them in: France, Germany, Holland (and 7 more...)
• draw around your hand and colour it in
• tidy up all the outside toys in the garden
• do water drawing
• look at your baby pictures
• check the dryer and empty it if it is full
• paint a rainbow
• look at our holiday pictures and choose your favorite 3 to print and frame
• play Pass the Pigs
• choose a craft from the Activity Book and make a list of what you need
• play Snakes and Ladders

I absolutely can't take credit for the idea of the jar - that was given to me on Facebook by a school friend. I anticipate it will make this rainy summer much less painful. Especially tomorrow as I will be housebound for medical reasons... But at least the boys' toilet will be clean if I can 'encourage' that task to be chosen...

How Many Times?

Came across this on Pinterest yesterday and, apart from the dubious use of the word 'awesome', I completely agree.  Except I think that '5th time' is quite a conservative number to choose!  50th?

I have a friend who absolutely cannot get her head around the fact that I reread books.  She very very rarely revisits a book she has read.  She tends not even to keep them - well, why would you?  She and her sisters give them to each other and then pass them on.  She is totally baffled by the idea that you would read a book again, once you already know what happens.

I can't fully understand why this is so odd to her.  I have never NOT reread!  All kids read their favourite books over and over again - usually they know them off by heart!  In fact my parents have a recording of me 'reading' the Christmas Story to my Dad when I was about 2 and a half.  It was my absolute favourite and I demanded it every night apparently.  Maybe that's where it started!

I find when I first read a new book, I fly through it - especially if it is gripping and the plot unfolds unexpectedly.  I expect I do read too quickly that first time around, just to find out what happens.  So re reading makes sense in that context and I go back and rediscover or notice new things the second time around.

The bit that my friend really finds odd is that I have several authors or books that I reread endlessly, probably annually if not more often.  These are the 3 authors I probably read most frequently: Brookmyre, Heyer and Rowling.

The 3 couldn't be more different really. Georgette Heyer writes historical fiction, mostly set in the Regency in London or Bath  Her plots don't tend to be terribly complex, but her use of language and her historical accuracy and detail are just spellbinding.  Her characters are also generally very likeable and I love sinking into her books.  These really are comfort reads and I know them so well!  When a new Arrow edition was released of them, I spotted several errors in one book and wrote to the publishers.  They sent me the corrected version and a load of free books too!  One reviewer wrote: 'I have read her books to ragged shreds' - I have too, as evidenced below.  Many of the books were my Mums, but most of them are now falling to bits, by sheer overuse. I feel as though you could set me down in Bath in 1815 and I would know exactly how to speak, dress, where to go etc. It's a wonderful world to fall into and my ultimate comfort read is These Old Shades.  

 Brookmyre on the other hand writes stinging Scottish satire - full of biting one liners, blood, gore and no-holds-barred language. Some of his books can be quite political - they are always funny, full of cliff hangers and quite outrageous. The thing he does actually have in common with Heyer is his characters.  He has been compared to Carl Hiassen in terms of his satirical writing, but I have always found Hiassen's characters to be slightly too bizarre to relate to or really root for. Brookmyre on the other hand paints portraits of people who are real, conflicted, flawed and loving. The best example of this comes in the first Brookmyre I read: A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away; the books starts with Simon Darcourt's contemptuous dismissal of all things suburban and middle class.  Reading this can make you feel a bit defensive and, well, suburban and middle class.  But as the book progresses, the character of Raymond Ash comes into it and his relationship with his family is warm and feels true and realistic.  Before this sounds too slushy, this is to the background of a terrorist plot to blow up a hydroelectric power station, foiled by 2 school boys, an English teacher and a female police officer.

Hilarious in places, biting in others and with a cute twist at the end. 

 Harry Potter  was the third series in that picture of books I reread often.  I genuinely do read all 7 HP books at least once a year.  I LOVE them. They are just so clever and satisfying in their construction.  I love the way insignificant events in book 2 come back to have huge repercussions in book 6, or the details of the magical world.  I remember reading each new book as it came out, almost worried that it wouldn't live up to the previous ones - but this was never the case.  Take away the magic, the spells, the broomsticks and you are left with a boy who wants a family and I find that JK Rowling never lets the setting of the books overpower the characters. So I am always happy to return to the world of Hogwarts and never find the stories getting old.  In the words of alan Rickman: "When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, 'After all this time?' And I will say, 'Always.'" If he's not sick of it, after starring in all 7 films then clearly I have barely scraped the surface of my potential enjoyment of it...

A new contender for rereading is the Hunger Games Trilogy.  Very compelling, quite dark and violent, but powerful.  Another 'different world',which reminded me of Nazism, North Korea and Rome all at once.  Sounds very gloomy, but, again, it's the characters that add the warmth.


The final group of books I would add to thisis Steig Larsson's Trilogy, The Girl With...   Those books blew me away and I love the fact that one was a thriller, one was more of a detective novel and the third was a spy novel. Yet all with the same characters and the unfolding story of Lisbeth Salander. Brilliant...


In writing this it seems as though it's not so much revisiting the plots as meeting with favourite characters that pulls me into these books time and again. I don't see why I would ever stop wanting to come back to them over the years ahead. 
If you haven't read these books: do!  And then read them again. 

so why not?

In the past few months, about 4 people separately have suggested that I start a blog.  I think this is based on Facebook statuses and the fact that I listen to the radio a lot.  I can't take credit for the former really, as those that are generally 'liked' a lot are quotes from my boys.  They really do come up with those all by themselves! And I can't really take credit for the radio either.

So I am not sure what I have to offer here, but I have recently finished up my job outside the home, so why not give this a go?

Many blogs seem to have a clear theme or a project.  A friend is blogging about her house build in Finland, another about her life working in a clinic in Sierra Leone, another about recipes and crafts.  I feel kind of unfocussed as I start this. I suppose I will take a while to find my voice, never mind any kind of 'audience'.  I hope it will help me reflect on things I read or hear and I imagine a theme will develop...

So that was my first blog. First of many?